This set of finely turned stainless steel and brass gun barrels for is designed for the new Academy USS Indianapolis kit. It does not include a styrene turret face, as is included in the set designed for the Trumpeter kit, but could undoubtedly be used to augment the Trumpeter San Francisco class cruisers as well.

Each of the 8” barrels are slightly tapered with very finely defined segmentations. The short stubs at the end of the barrel allows for easy insertion into the kit’s turret face. Although the barrel openings are not as pronounced as compared to other Master barrel sets (or the kit’s barrels), these barrels are noticeably longer, more even and, no doubt, more accurate than the kit parts. A couple of my kit’s barrel ends were noticeably uneven. That’s not an issue with the Master barrels.

The 5” brass barrels are also nicely tapered and noticeably slimmer that the kit parts. They, too, have very slightly opened ends, as compared to the kit’s solid barrels.

Although the quality of the casting of the Academy parts is a improvement over what was supplied to ship modelers just a few years ago, Master Model turned steel and brass barrels represent a qualitative leap over just about anything currently available in plastic, and they provide a considerable visual improvement to the overall look of the finished kit.

My thanks to Master Model for providing IPMS with the review set.